Happy Easter

Spring is in the air. The weeds are pushing through and the battle for garden supremacy begins. Hope begins with little more than a seed planted in freshly turned earth, we can hope that our actions are making a difference, we can hope that we are able to influence the world around us for positive change.

Gardening season is upon us, it is a relief to be outside working the earth. Stress melts away as all the planning over the winter comes to fruition as neatly laid out rows, irrigation lines, prunings, seeds ready to be plantd, seedlings reading to be transplanted.

Sometimes the problems that we identify in the world outside appear insurmountable, sometimes we just need to return to the garden and consider how to honour the earth and all we’ve been entrusted with. I believe that we are to honour God, that Jesus has taken all our sin and shame. This doesn’t change the fact that we’ve royally screwed things up – that materialism and pride have supplanted moderation and humility, that we have extracted more than half of all of the energy stored up by the earth over the last couple of million years or so, and used it in under a century. The garden is a place to contemplate the enormity of the problem, and take comfort in the fact that for thousands of years, our ancestors have lived on the land, not in the office or the car.

This Spring, get out into the garden, grow something, reconnect with the land, raise some animals, after all it’s Spring, and Easter reminds us of new beginnings.

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Mike Thomas P.Eng. ENV SP, is the author of UrbanWorkbench.com and Director of Engineering at the City of Revelstoke in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada.
If I post something here that you find helpful as you navigate the world of engineering, planning and building communities, that’s wonderful. But when push comes to shove: This is my personal blog. The views expressed on these pages are mine alone and not those of my employer.

I have prepared my two square-foot gardening beds I started last year and have planted onion seedlings and today I will sow carrots, chard, lettuce etc.etc. Last year I kept myself in salads all season long.

Another bed is being made, They are four feet square and each of the 16 squares is planted with the appropriate number of seeds/plants to fill one square foot. e.g. 16 radish – 4 lettuce – 9 spinach.

Square foot gardening is a great idea for gardeners of all abilities, particularly those who have felt overwhelmed by the scale of things – it keeps it simple and manageable, and the rewards are fresh veggies, what could be better! And it is fun!

We held off planting in the beds that are ready cause the weather forecast looked like some cold nights – just a little too cold for the row covers to protect the germination process. However,, the weather seems to be heading on a warming trend now, so we may get the seeds in tomorrow or Monday. I still have some row cover hoops to make up too!